Ridenour: Selfies with the stars? Senior Players will be more fan-friendly

By Marla Ridenour Akron Beacon Journal GateHouse Media Ohio

Saturday

Aug 4, 2018 at 6:15 PMAug 4, 2018 at 6:16 PM

Nothing will ease the sting of Akron’s loss of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. Not after 65 years of PGA Tour events at Firestone Country Club, a run that ends with Sunday’s bittersweet final round.

But selfies with Fred Couples next year might help ease the pain.

As the barricades, suites and corporate chalets took over the famed South Course and player security increased, opportunities to interact with the tour’s stars dwindled. That will not be the case with the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, contracted for four years at Firestone starting July 8-14, 2019.

"Our price points, it’s very affordable, it’s fan-friendly. You don’t have the barricades. There’s a little rope on the golf course in a couple of areas. For the most there’s not the separation you find from the players," Greg McLaughlin, president of the PGA Tour Champions, said in an interview with the Beacon Journal on Wednesday.

McLaughlin understands the slip in prestige from the PGA Tour to the 50-and-over tour; he previously served as president of the Tiger Woods Foundation for 14 years.

"I’m sure there’s some disappointment because you guys have had such great golf here for so long. Look at this week and Tiger Woods and everything, a fitting way to obviously end a great thing," McLaughlin said of the eight-time champion at Firestone. "But once you see the product, I think people will embrace it and find it to be very fan-friendly. That’s what I’ve found in my four years being out here."

Dan Murphy, CEO of Bridgestone Golf, has a relationship with Couples dating back to Couples’ days playing the Maxfli ball. Murphy knows Couples will be a crowd favorite, along with John Daly, Davis Love III, Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer, 60, who has won 37 Champions tour events.

"It opens up a whole new level of involvement," Murphy told the Beacon Journal Friday. "These guys are great and gracious, but they’re also all business. With the Senior Players, you’ll see a more engaging side of a professional golfer."

McLaughlin said those who have attended the Bridgestone Invitational will be surprised at how many players they will recognize next year.

"I’m not kidding when I say you’ll go up and down the range and you won’t have to look at any of the nametags. I think it will bring back all the legends as well that want to come back, that have great memories," McLaughlin said of players 60 and over.

"I think these guys all like to compete and that’s what brings them out," McLaughlin said. "Stricker hadn’t won in a long time and he won twice and he made a comment this year that that gave him confidence to go back out on the PGA Tour."

Sorting through the spin, it sounds as if Akron has a chance to become one of the most well-attended stops on the Champions Tour. That’s presuming the Bridgestone Senior Players field is strong and the community continues to embrace golf.

"Coming to a tournament at Firestone is a summer tradition for a lot of people," Don Padgett III, executive director of the Bridgestone Invitational who will assume the same position with the Bridgestone Senior Players, said Wednesday during a ceremony unveiling a plaque commemorating Firestone’s tour history. "This place is an American treasure."

McLaughlin said the top five events on the Champions Tour draw 90,000 for three days. He said the big three sites are Des Moines, Iowa, Madison, Wis., and Calgary. The four-day U.S. Senior Open, which concluded July 1 at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., totaled 134,000, the highest for the event since 2013 at Omaha (Neb.) Country Club, which drew 157,000.

While it seems like the four-round Senior Players is merely the tour’s effort to placate Akron and Firestone, Murphy values the continuing partnership with the PGA Tour.

"It’s quite magical to have our own tournament, even if it’s not a WGC," Murphy said. "Having a Senior Players event is super cool; the Players is one of the five majors. The Players is a PGA-owned property. We’ve got a relationship with players, but having a relationship with the PGA Tour gives us some extra status, which we think is very important."

As tour players say goodbye to Firestone on Sunday, many have mixed feelings. The WGC event will move to Memphis, home of FedEx, which sponsors the season-ending playoff series.

"I like playing here, I like the tournament being here, but I also like Memphis," said 2016 Bridgestone champions Dustin Johnson, "I think FedEx and what they’ve done for the tour, for them to get this event, I think it’s big for them. I’m happy to see it go to Memphis if it’s not going to be here."

Murphy could only speak to the years Bridgestone has sponsored the event and he missed three of the tournaments while away from the company. But he is sad to see the tour leaving.

"It was quite an amazing run of 13 years with great champions," Murphy said. "Being the title sponsor of a PGA Tour event, especially a WGC Tour event, helped us build our golf brand. I’m sure the tire side would think it helped them build their tire brand.

"Was it worth the investment? Was it worth the time? I think the answer is unequivocally yes, not only from a business-building perspective, but also from a community involvement perspective. Having a golf event at Firestone Country Club is just a natural thing. It’s the way it should be, right?"

Perhaps in the next 11 months, longtime patrons will decide to become a part of the next chapter of Firestone history and support the Senior Players. Our American treasure deserves that.

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